


The Rooster Crows (And I Denied Everything)

by Second_Lady_of_Shalott



Series: SuperAvengers 'Verse [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Family History, Family Secrets, Meet the Family, True Vessels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-04 00:39:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5313362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Second_Lady_of_Shalott/pseuds/Second_Lady_of_Shalott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Howard Stark decided to move up in life, he left everything behind. As a result, the family wrote him out.</p><p>Years later, his desperate sister seeks him out for help.</p><p>Decades after, the truth is revealed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rooster Crows (And I Denied Everything)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by that picture floating on Pinterest where they comment that the actors for John Winchester and Tony Stark look alike enough to be family.
> 
> Edited note: Finally finished this oneshot. If you read it before, please read it again because now it is truly complete. Thank you. 
> 
> AU because I brought Henry Winchester in earlier.

 

THEN:

_January 1950_

The flames rose to touch the sky.

"Someone, help me!" She screams, running to go in,"Someone help them!"

Arms wrap around her waist, pulling her away. She twists and kicks to be freed, to save them. Her right hand clenched tightly in a fist, the pin she held, digging into the skin. Slumping to the ground, she sobbed,"Please help them."

Her nice dress is dirty now, the braid her sister made falling apart, and the stocking ruined. 

Whatever hope she had was gone as the house crumpled into itself, destroying everything she ever knew. 

Arms released her and she's too weak to sit up.

"I'm sorry, doll." Neighbor Jim says as he steps away.

.

.

.

_January 1958_

When Howard began his rise to fame, his youngest sister had been only a few months old. 

To be honest, once his father declared him stricken from the family records and his mother had bowed her head down, Howard hasn't thought of his family since he left.

Now here she was, standing before him as a young woman in her early twenties, chin up and with a prideful stance Peggy would admire.

She resembled him. The likeness great enough to send the paparazzi into a frenzy about Howard Stark having a child out of wedlock if they caught sight of her.

"Why are you here, Esther?" He asked gently.

She looks at him in surprise. Why would he forget the names of his siblings? He had three- a sister, a brother, and the one standing before him.

"I would not have approach you if I had another way, Howard." She starts slowly."But I find myself running out of time."

He catches sight of a ring on her finger. Marriage problems then. Howard sits up straight and places his drink on his desk. He'll teach her husband a lesson.

 "What do you need from me?" He asked more firmly. He hated the polite small talk of society. Hell, he would respect gold diggers more if they bluntly told him they just wanted the money.

She squared her shoulders back and looked him in the eye. Esther has Mother's eyes, the only one to inherit them if he remembered correctly.

"Money. My husband is dead. No one wants to hire a widow and everything is coming due. There's no one else I can turn to. Except you, brother mine." 

Even Howard Stark had heard about the mysterious fire that had overtaken half the neighborhood where his family had lived. He knows she is the only one who survived. He nods at her and puts out his cigar before getting up to open the drawer in his desk. 

"How can I say no to my little sister?" He smiles as he takes out three stacks of hundreds and motions for her purse. 

She bows her head down and hands over the black purse, the handles of which she had clutched so tightly. Esther watches as he gently rearranges her items inside to place the money within. It had taken a huge effort to try to make contact with the famous Stark. At least until Howard had heard her name mixed with their mother's maiden name. This was possibly going to be the last time she would see her eldest brother. Something compels her to speak. 

"I grew up hearing about you. Seeing your face in the news. I was always curious about the brother who shunned his family for fame. I wonder though, were you just as curious to know about us?" 

Howard gives back her purse and looks at her. Esther wonders if he knew how much resemblance he had to their father. 

"No. I never look back. Only to the future I can see. You have enough money to last a lifetime if you're careful. Jarvis will escort you back to the hotel. Take care, Esther."

With that, he turns away and pours himself another drink. Jarvis appears at the door and motions for Esther to follow him out. She murmurs a quick "thank you" and leaves. 

In the dead silence that lingers around him, Howard Stark announces,"I have no family." 

And takes his drink before continuing, "And neither do you, Millicent Winchester."

.

.

.

_February 1950_

A couple comes to see her at the asylum. 

Esther figures they're reporters, coming here to report and laugh at the young woman who had a breakdown upon seeing her family dying in flames. The reporters had stopped coming, once the police had closed the case and she was moved to maximum isolation.

Esther wonders how they managed to convince the Head Director to let them talk to her.

The security guards sit her down and moved to the door, far away not to hear but close enough to intervene if the patient gets upset. 

"Hello, ma'am, we came to ask you a few questions about the incident last month."starts the man.

He's a handsome one, with dark hair parted to one side and eyes of the sky. The suit he wears is tailored to his body but her eyes are drawn to the tie pin displayed proudly. 

Esther points at it and blinks, trying to form the words out. 

He gives her a pitying smile before he motions for his companion to speak.

Red haired and with fair skin, she leans forward and smiles at Esther. 

"Miss Esther, my partner and I have traveled to this city to make sure the case is absolutely closed. If there is anything you can tell us, please do so now." 

She also wore the same design, except hers was a brooch on the blue dress. 

Esther no longer had anything to live for. Her family was dead, her eldest brother never bothered to show up at the funerals, and the boy who had hinted at marriage soon had disappeared once he realized his girl had problems. If she died, no one would care. 

She blinks again and the red-haired woman looks frustrated.

But Esther straightened up her back and she loses the blank look on her face. She points at the tie pin again and leans forward.

"I remember running into a man and picking up that exact pin." She whispers. 

The looks of surprise and disbelief on their faces was worth it. 

After a few minutes, they recover and the man leans forward. 

"Miss Esther, my name is Henry Winchester and this is my partner, Josie Sands. I need you to tell me everything about the night your family died."

.

.

.

Henry Winchester tries to figure out the enigma that is Miss Esther. 

She was vital in helping to bring in the rogue Man of Letters and to help vanquish the demon tied to him. Out of all the victims, she was the only one who had been lucky enough to survive. 

She catches him looking at her and gives him a quick smile before going back to reading the Torah. 

Henry ducks his head down to hide his blush. If he was honest with himself, he was also drawn to the dark beauty. Like Josie always said, he could never resist a damsel in distress. 

But this was the first time he wanted to pursue a woman instead of books and monsters.

.

.

.

"Face it, Henry. You have to kill me in order to kill that demon." She exclaims hysterically. Esther had found a will to live during these past days she had spent with Henry and Josie.  

They had found the rogue Man of Letters and Josie had been the one to escort him back to headquarters to be tried for his actions. The man had given up the demon he summoned and why he had killed all those people before going. 

They were all sacrifices to bring forth Lilith from hell. 

He also revealed he had anchored the demon to the soul of a pure virgin--Esther. That was the main reason she had escaped that night. 

Henry Winchester is frustrated. He knows the protocol for this--call the nearest hunter to do the job and leave to catch up with Josie. 

Instead, he watches her pace in front of him, sees how one of her victory rolls is falling into a curl. 

And Henry gets an idea. 

He gets up and buttons his blazer before approaching her. She stops pacing and gazes at him questionably. 

"I have an idea of how to save you but it may not work." He says. 

"I'll do anything." She responds. 

With that declaration, he gently wraps one arm around her and brings her close to him before he placed a soft kiss on her lips. 

"After tonight, marry me." 

And he takes her to bed to vanquish the demon's hold on her.

The next morning, they get married in a church and she becomes Millicent Winchester from then on. 

A new beginning and life.

.

.

.

_April 1967_

Millie Winchester knows she should tell John about his Men of Letters legacy but there is no use of it now. Instead she tells her son about how Henry's family are scholars of legacy, how Henry wouldn't have left them if the rare find hadn't tempted him enough to decipher it. 

As John grows older, he grew more jaded against his father, throwing her a look of disbelief whenever she says this of Henry. John begins to ask about her family instead.

"What about you mom? Why don't you talk about your side of the family?" 

Here she paused. After that night, with the exception of one urgent visit, Esther had left everything behind. Her eyes laid upon the daily newspaper that depicted a picture of the Stark family. 

She smiled.

"My family consists of mechanics." she told him softly 

For the first time in years, she began to talk about her family. She told John about how her family had been immigrants, about her brother and sister and their antics growing up, and how her family had perished in a fire before her wedding.

Finally, she told him about the eldest brother, how he had left the family to make his way up in the world.

"What was his name, mom?" Asked John, interested in the black sheep of the family. 

"He left when I was a baby, dear. My father and mother never mentioned his name to me. My siblings were too afraid to mention his name." She lied. 

And that was that.

.

.

.

_January 1984_

The first time Tony Stark hears about his father's side of the family, his father is stupidly drunk and it's the fifth time his mother unofficially left the family. It's also the third time Tony is suspended and sent home for his experimental explosions.

"I wonder if Esther's son is as troublesome and disappointing as my own! A curse from our father!" Howard slurs and throws the glass at the wall, barely missing Tony.

Tony is about to ask more about the mysterious Esther but Jarvis shows up and whisks him away from Howard.

It's around ten at night, and Tony knows that according to Jarvis's schedule, he should be sleeping but Jarvis looks alert as ever.

Despite the fact that Tony is old enough to be on his own, Jarvis gently tucks him in like he used to and brings him a soothing cup of tea. 

No one makes great tea like Jarvis and Aunt Peggy. 

Tony takes his time to drink it and afterwards, asks,"Who is Esther, Jarvis?"

Jarvis fiddles with the cup before placing it on the tray and turns to Tony.

"I have only seen the former Miss Stark once, Anthony. She came to ask Sir for a loan to ease her financial difficulties due to her husband's death. Mrs. Esther resembled Sir so much, I was scandalized at first seeing her. I know she has a son older than you but that is all we know. " He whispers to Tony before he wishes him a good night and leaves. 

That night, Tony Stark dreams of a house on fire.

.

.

.

_December 1991_

When Howard and Maria Stark die suddenly in a car crash, Esther cries. 

She watches the funeral mass and procession on tv to the end. Maria Stark had been a devout Catholic and it was assumed Howard was as well, since he married her in the way of the Church. 

It unsettled her, even though Howard had left the faith behind, that he wouldn't receive the last rites as he should have in their tradition. 

After the result of their wills were published, to which the majority went to Tony Stark and a variety of charities, a woman came to visit the Winchester home.

Esther was reminded briefly of Henry's proper manners when she saw her but while Henry had been awkward, this woman gave off vibes that she should be obeyed at all cost.

"Good afternoon, are you Millicent Winchester?"  She asked.

"Yes, I am." 

"My name is Margaret Carter, here on Howard's behalf. May I come in?"

It turned out Mrs. Carter was there to take care of Howard's unofficial will that he had asked her to do as a favor between them. To the sister he had kept in the shadows of his heart, he left her stock from Marshall Field's and McIntosh, along with millions of dollars. 

And a note that read, _I left everything behind me just as you. The family dies with us, Esther_.

That night, she burns the note and stops crying.

Only she knows the complete truth.

.

.

.

Aunt Peggy visits the newly billionaire Tony Stark and she brings pictures. 

Jarvis had told Tony about the favor Howard asked Peggy to do in his death and so, he had called her for a favor of his own.

It's seven pictures in total. Jarvis was right in that Esther resembled Howard greatly. The first is a wedding portrait followed by a picture taken at the hospital where a red-faced baby wails and the parents smile at the camera. The third is a family portrait, where his cousin looks to be about five and they're all smiling.

The fourth one is more somber-- his cousin is in a Marine uniform, bag in one hand and an arm around Esther, who clutches tightly at her son. The fifth is another wedding portrait, this one of a gorgeous blonde smiling and his cousin looking at her lovingly. The sixth is the same, only the bride and the groom are each on the side of Esther and hugging her. All three are laughing. 

The last one is a hospital picture where his cousin and wife smile down at a sleeping baby. 

"Esther Stark was taken to the asylum shortly after seeing her family die in a terrible fire that took out half the neighborhood. After a month, she was released in good health and there are no futher trails of her. However, one month later, a Millicent Esther marries Henry Winchester and moves to Kansas." begins Aunt Peggy, sipping at the tea Jarvis had given them. "Three years later, the Winchesters have a son named John. Then Henry Winchester dies four years later in a fire at a gentleman's club initiation meeting..."

Tony Stark listens to everything his Aunt Peggy found out. He discovers his cousin's wife had died in a house fire, in which John and the children barely survived getting out. That although John stayed with his mother, he eventually left with the children and hasn't returned since. Despite this, Esther plans on dividing the money into three portions for her boys. 

Tony wonders if he should meet his real aunt at least once but by the time he gathers courage, Millicent Winchester is dead.

.

.

.

Dean Winchester is fifteen when their father mentions his mother and her family. He's heard about his paternal grandfather, a well educated man who had left when John was little but never about his paternal grandmother, who had died a few years after their mother.

Dean remembers his grandmother, how she would come to lavish presents and praises on her grandsons. How pale she had been when she heard the reason why Dean wouldn't speak and why John was leaving for the road soon. How ugly the fight had been between the two and they had left during the night.

Dean wonders if his father had cried at hearing about Grandma's death. Nonetheless, he listens as John tells a curious Sam about the grandmother he doesn't remember.  

"We come from a family of mechanics, sons, never forget that." John says, taking a sip of his beer. 

Dean doesn't mention today is the anniversary of Millicent Winchester's death.

.

.

.

"What happened to Millie?" Henry asked Sam. 

Henry figures his youngest grandson would tell him. Of his two grandsons, he sees a greater resemblance to his wife in Sam.

"She died a few years after Mom died. It was a peaceful death from what I've heard. She died in her sleep." Sam said, adding on,"She never remarried."

It made him feel relieved and guilty at the same time. Henry was glad that nothing supernatural had ever touched his wife, that she had not lived to see what her son and grandsons had been through. He had grown to love the woman he had saved and while he was glad it meant she had loved him enough to honor their wedding vows, he felt sad that she never found another man to keep her company. 

 .

.

.

_Eons before_

Michael had summoned Gabriel down to earth. Puzzled, he goes to his brother and finds him watching Eve's three daughters. 

"We have picked the lineages of our true vessels. Now it is your turn to do so." orders Michael before leaving him.

Gabriel has heard about Cain and Abel, the first murder and death on earth. The first step in the plan for the Apocalypse had begun. 

He glances at the oldest of Eve's daughter, that one was pregnant with Michael's chosen vessel and the youngest was Lucifer's vessel. 

That left the middle daughter. 

She wore a look on her face that mirrors his own feelings on the matter and he knows that she is the vessel for him. 

He whispers in her ear,"Accept to be my true vessel and be all you can be."

The middle daughter blinks and nods in consent. 

He leaves. 

.

.

.

Over the centuries, the lineages of the three true vessels overlapped with one another in which each had to pick out the descendant to continue on. 

But not Gabriel. 

By this time, he had left everything behind. He is Loki, the Trickster god. He made his own body and has no need of a vessel, no need to be the mediator to the end of the world. 

But somehow his true vessel lineage survives. 

And is connected with the Winchesters, the ones who had 'killed' him. 

He is curious and goes to see his vessel. 

.

.

.

His true vessel is a douchebag, THE douchebag.

Tony Stark. 

But he's in a situation that he doesn't deserve. An STD, a huge line of women slapping his face, and twenty children left on his doorstep maybe but not being tortured and forced to build a weapon. 

Invisible, Gabriel places his hand on his head and enters his dreams.

And he influences Tony's desire to survive.

He whispers in his ear, "You are Tony Stark. Be everything you can be." 

He subtly slows the sharpel in his vessel's heart to give the doctor enough time to save him and then he leaves.

.

.

.

Gabriel visits Tony Stark before he goes to save the Winchesters from the meeting of the Pagan gods. 

Tony is in his lab, working on the latest model of his Iron Man suit. He's no longer the huge douchebag he was before. Instead, he's becoming quite more like his true vessel. 

He feels pulled into the Apocalypse by force and knows what he has to do. Knows that the Winchester brothers need more help than they needed.

Gabriel snaps his fingers and disappears.

 _Sir, there appears to be a package left outside the lab for you. It seems harmless._ JARVIS announces.

Tony wonders who had left it and goes to retrieve it. 

When he opens it, he finds the surprise of his lifetime. 

.

.

.

The boys are tired and defeated. They lost their sort of ally-- the archangel Gabriel and now they don't know what to do. 

When they arrive at Bobby's house days later, they're surprised to see him meet them outside. 

They're even more wary and surprise at what he says.

"Iron man is in my house and he wants to meet you two. Says Gabriel pointed him to my house." grumbled Bobby as he pointed towards the kitchen. 

Sam and Dean know Bobby had already performed the necessary tests and so they entered the kitchen. 

There's a box sitting on the table and Tony Stark is there, sipping at a glass of whiskey. He looks just as he does on tv and as soon as he sees them, hands out a post it note to them.

It read,'You're not the only ones who are true vessels. This one is mine. Try not to get him killed. -Gabriel.'

"I've made arrangements with Pepper and JARVIS. Also sent out a text to Rogers to not bother me for a while." Tony Stark announces as he sets down his glass and motions towards the box. 

"I don't understand." blurts out Dean and Sam nods.

Tony gives them a look before taking out a picture from the box and hands it over.

"We're from the same family of mechanics, cousins mine. I'm here to help you with the Apocalypse problem you currently have."

Dean accepts the picture and looks at it with Sam. It's a family of six. Howard Stark is easily recognizable from it. Tony hands over another one, this time a portrait of Henry Winchester and his wife. His wife, who bore a great resemblance to Howard Stark. 

"Well, second cousins really." Tony continues. 

Dean turns to Sam. Sam nods. 

"Well then, we have work to do before you become a proper hunter." announced Bobby.

"About that, I have ideas."

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, title comes inspired from one of the stories in the Judeo-Christianity Bible. 
> 
> Short generic version as I possibly can--Jesus tells Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crows. Peter defends himself, says he would do no such thing, but ends up doing it when he's watching Jesus being tried and people recognize him as a follower.


End file.
